Such a sad week, the past seven days. On Monday saw the awful accident at Buncrana where a woman lost her husband, sister, mother and two of her children. The heartbreak she must be feeling is indescribable.

We also saw an incredible act of heroism from her partner as he passed his baby to a stranger who displayed immense courage by taking to the water to help save them.

Both the communities of Buncrana and Derry show a palpable sadness, a stunned sorrow and collective grief that I think will take them a very long time to recover from.

It’s hard to comprehend just how these things happen and why, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, a good man killed by cowards was laid to rest, his tributes displaying that so much of his life was given over to helping others and saving others.

Those who took Adrian Ismay ’s life will never gain such accolades for they are only able to act selfishly, cruelly and with hate, not love.

I imagine these are men who have themselves suffered loss, yet will still bring such pain and heartbreak upon others.

There is nothing noble in what they do or believe, they are killers first and foremost.

They may try to justify it by claiming it is some sort of act of war, like that makes it acceptable. It isn’t, and it doesn’t.

There is no war and we don’t want one either. I’m sure of that.

We’ve seen enough loss of life here through ignorance, intolerance and hate.

We are still a few generations away from leaving it all behind and moving on, I believe, but I also believe in the people here. We’re still trying.

A picture released by the Belgian federal police of three suspects

In Brussels, another terrorist attack on life, liberty and hope perpetrated by the minority to try and enslave the majority in a mindset of fear and suspicion. A mindset that blames those who are actually trying to escape the sort of people who carry out terrorist attacks like that, to warp minds into thinking that every Muslim is a terrorist, every foreign national is a threat.

Idiotic propaganda for idiots to believe. And the more tawdry political voices fell for it.

Within minutes there were tweets and statements from the right, proclaiming this was another reason to close borders.

Political point-scoring as people were still lying dying.

A few in Northern Ireland did it – the usual suspects.

The small-minded, cerebrally challenged bigots who hate other religions, gay people, women, foreigners, etc. They hate the people whom they never encounter, have no idea about and their empty rhetoric serves only to divide, not unify – and get a cheap vote or two from other mouth breathers.

When a very personal event happens it all just crowds in and gets that wee bit darker.

It doesn’t seem right. The negative actions in the world, the accidents, tragedies, there doesn’t seem to be any justice in it at all.

How these things can happen and we are still expected to carry on.

But that’s all we can do, we have to persevere, keep our heads up and keep walking forward, to ignore the darkness and look to the light.

For darkness is just an absence of light, isn’t it? It’s a tough station to maintain, to keep a level of optimism, a light in the heart and mind, in the face of so much bad in this world.

But it’s worth it, it truly is.

Yes, life can be tough, cruel, merciless and lead us to believe only the strongest will survive and that strength is measured in force and desire for power. I disagree. Any society should be judged by how it treats its weakest members, not in how heavy it can bang its fist.

Anyone can do that, real strength is in doing the right thing for others who need it.